A terrifying event for parents and their three young children as a man they were supposed to be able to trust to teach them to swim molests their children.
Florida courts handed down four separate life sentences to a former swim instructor after being convicted of molesting three of his young students in his class at the Deerfield Beach Aquatics Center in early 2015.
All of the three young victims, who were just 6 years old at the time, testified to have been groped inappropriately by Francisco de Aragón underneath their swim clothes in private when he was supposed to be teaching them.
Attorneys for De Aragón defended his actions stating this was a technique where he unintentionally touched their genital areas and that there was possibly “accidental contact” and that his actions may have been misinterpreted.
For three days the trial went on with countless experts and witness testimony. With four final hours of deliberations this past week, de Aragón, 28, was found guilty of all five criminal counts against him. Those charges included the sexual battery of a child, which comes with an automatic sentence of life imprisonment.
Mr. de Aragón who in turn rejected a plea deal that would have resulted in 25 years behind bars, states loudly and remains adamant that he is innocent.
“This is not me. There is no justice in this sentence. There is no justice in putting a life sentence on a man who is innocent,” he protested. “The facts, in this case, show innocence, not guilty, not that I am some monster, not that I am some sort of molester, some secret pedophile.”
Frank de Aragon, the now convicted sec offenders father told local station CBS in an interview, “This is a case where they got it wrong,” his father said, “An innocent man, who is trying to help people learn and save themselves, is now in prison for life.”
Many were affected by the decision including Francisco’s wife, Savannah de Aragon, who after hearing the Jury's decision is reported to have rushed out of the courtroom in tears. She then expressed concern for her husband’s safety in prison given his child sex offender status. “I’m scared and terrified he is going to get hurt in there,” she said.
She's not wrong, pedophiles and sex offenders especially those who have touched or harmed children are brutally assaulted and often times killed in prison.
So sad how the anti-pedo hysteria has gotten so extreme that there are jobs simply not worth the liability; one slip of the hand and you are in prison for life.